It’s beginning to look like the best rookie big man in the NBA who didn’t play college ball is Orlando Magic starting center Steven Hunter. What ou say he was at DePaul? Who knew? Of course, DePaul was so talented it really didn’t need a center who can start for a team that is expected to contend for the Eastern Conference championship.
“I’m feeling more confident with each game and each practice,” Hunter said after getting nine points in 14 minutes Saturday against Charlotte. “I always knew I had the talent to play at this level. I just needed that extra boost to get me over the hump.”
Hunter is averaging only 4.2 points in about 12 minutes per game, but he has a regular place in the rotation and had 13 points in a big win over Midwest leader Minnesota last week.
It’s foreign to Krause: In 1989, Jerry Krause admitted a mistake. It may be the last time. The Bulls’ general manager had three No. 1 draft picks and used the third for Jeff Sanders, refusing to gamble on Yugoslavian center Vlade Divac because he hadn’t seen him play. And, yes, Divac has been one of the NBA’s top centers for the last 12 years. So Krause was more careful the following year and came away with a big prize in the second round in Croatian Toni Kukoc, who was a key player on three Bulls titlists.
The success with Kukoc led the Bulls to scout extensively in Europe, but the results have been a disaster for the last decade, with 2000 No. 1 draft pick Dalibor Bagaric apparently the latest mistake–he has produced little with more playing time in his second season. The Bulls drafted Dragan Tarlac in 1995, but he was a bust and went back to Europe, and they traded 1997 draft pick Roberto Duenas. Other finds and projects like Chris Anstey and Kornel David drifted away.
In the meantime, several teams had huge successes in the 1990s with European talent, notably the Sacramento Kings. In 1996, they took Peja Stojakovic with a mid-first-round pick, and he has become one of the elite scorers and shooters in the NBA, averaging 23.5 points this season. Teammate Hidayet Turkoglu, also taken with a mid-first-round pick, is a valuable sixth man on a contending team, averaging 10 points in 20 minutes per game.
Greek center Jake Tsakalidis, taken one pick after Bagaric, averages about 20 minutes at center for a good Phoenix team. Minnesota center Radoslav Nesterovic had 24 points and 12 rebounds against David Robinson in leading his team into first place Saturday. Russian rookie Andrei Kirilenko gets more than 20 minutes per game and averages about eight points for the Jazz. France’s Tony Parker, a rookie, averages 11.5 points and is the starting point guard for the contending Spurs. Pistons center Zeljko Rebraca, a second-round pick in 1994, averages eight points and five rebounds and was impressive against the Bulls this season. And the Mavericks’ Dirk Nowitzki is a top NBA star.
Make it was just a bad decade for the Bulls’ scouts.
Spiting himself: Wonder if Michael Jordan regrets not making that trade for the Wizards now. It seems Krause still upsets Jordan, who remains so at odds with him that he was insistent last spring on beating Krause in any trade. So when the Bulls offered Elton Brand and Jake Voskuhl, whom Jordan liked, for the No. 1 overall draft pick, Jordan balked and asked also for Jamal Crawford. The Bulls figured that was too much and traded Brand to the Clippers.
How do you think Jordan now would like to have Brand, who is surprising even his biggest Bulls supporters and averaging more than 20 points and 10 rebounds for a good Los Angeles offensive team? Brand is represented by David Falk, Jordan’s agent, so there would be no question about whether he’d re-sign in Washington. And how would the Wizards be with an inside force like Brand to complement Jordan instead of high schooler Kwame Brown, who has been ripped almost constantly by coach Doug Collins and benched.
“He said at one practice that I didn’t deserve to play because I’m not ready,” Brown said. “He told me I wasn’t in shape and that I didn’t know the plays. He said I was hurting the team.”
Voskuhl, meanwhile, is the starting center for the Phoenix Suns after getting traded by the Bulls for a future second-round pick. He couldn’t stick with the Bulls and starts for a competitive Suns team?
“He’s lively, runs the floor well, is an active body and the coach has confidence in him,” says Suns general manager Bryan Colangelo. “We’re very happy with the addition.”
As for Brand, he should be an All-Star this season, and the future of Krause and the Bulls franchise for a decade is hanging on that trade.
Favored Brand: Meanwhile, with the young Clippers, insiders say it’s Brand and not troubled Lamar Odom who has emerged as the leader of the team, and management now is more inclined to reward Brand instead of Odom with a long-term deal when their contracts come up. That could eventually lead to a deal of the talented Odom (the Heat would love to get him) because management believes Darius Miles could fill a similar role. The Clippers are 5-3 this year without Odom and 1-5 with him.
The test for Clippers owner Donald Sterling is whether he’ll keep this team together as Odom, Brand and Corey Maggette, playing well in Odom’s starting spot, are eligible for extensions after this season. Michael Olowokandi can be a restricted free agent and Jeff McInnis an unrestricted free agent after this season. The talk is only Brand will get the $70 million-plus extension and the Clippers will consider the others’ marketability next season or let them go.
“I appreciate that the Bulls gave me an opportunity,” says Brand. “If I had stayed at Duke, this would be my rookie season. Now I have two seasons of being the go-to guy.”
Around the league: Lakers assistant Frank Hamblen says Shaquille O’Neal’s problems with coach Phil Jackson are the center’s fault. “[O’Neal] gets moody sometimes,” Hamblen said. “He calls himself `the Big Aristotle.’ I call him `the Big Moody.'” . . . Charlotte’s David Wesley has this scouting report on Jordan: “Run him. The one thing I have noticed about him, he doesn’t really get back that much. Maybe that has to do with his legs or his age, I don’t know.” . . . Moses Malone rejected an offer to join Dallas’ 14-member coaching staff as “rebounding coach.” . . . The desperate Heat is considering picking up released Isaiah Rider, and Detroit point guard Chucky Atkins is asking for a trade. . . . The 76ers have interest in well-traveled center Will Perdue after picking up Michael Ruffin last week. . . . former Trail Blazer Clyde Drexler is working for the Nuggets this season but said his quest for a job in Portland was cut off by GM Bob Whitsitt. Drexler said he told owner Paul Allen he should keep coach Mike Dunleavy and fire Whitsitt. “I can see where his hands were tied, although I think Whitsitt is going to cost him more in five years (guaranteed contract) than Paul would have saved by firing him,” said Drexler. . . . Indiana’s Jalen Rose says a feature on his Internet site will be “Jalen’s Angels” because he claims a lot of kids have been named after him, and he wants to start a club for them. . . . The Saskatchewan Hawks of the minor-league CBA cut Benoit Benjamin, but Jeff Sanders continues to carry coach Stacey King’s team in Rockford. . . . Horace Grant on the Lakers’ fast start as talk heats up of a 70-win season: “You can see how much they miss me now. With Shaq and Kobe, what else do you really need?”
